Theories of Ethics and Social Responsibility

Theories of Ethics and Social Responsibility: Asian and Western Perspectives

04/17/23 Bonifacio G. Train, Jr. 1

Chan, Gary and George TL Shenoy (2009). Ethics and social responsibility: asian and western perspectives. Singapore: McGraw-Hill Education (Asia).

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Utilitarianism: Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill

• based on consequences and outcomes

• General Principle: an action is right and ought to be performed insofar as it leads to overall happiness or benefits, as opposed to pain or costs.



• “If I do this, what will be the impact on myself/others/society?”

• A moral actor makes a decision to act or desist from acting based on what he perceives or predicts to be the consequences which will ensue from the act or omission.



• Based on the actual consequences flowing from an action, it is in practice largely dependent on the moral actor’s prediction of the likely consequences.


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John Stuart Mill (1806-73)

• Actions are ‘right’ in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, ‘wrong’ as they tend to produce the reverse of hapiness.

• ‘Hapiness’ – pleasure, absence of pain, • ‘unhapiness’ – pain and privation of pleasure



• Good is equated with happiness• People desire happiness/good as an end in

itself• Pleasure: virtues, health, music – means to

happiness, it is possible for them also to be part of the end (e.g. for those who love and desire virtue)



• Lying:



• Lying (cheating): weakens the trustworthiness of human assertions and inhibits the the development of civilisation. Generally, it is wrong except in specific circumstances (such as withholding facts to save an individual from grievous harm).


Jeremy Bentham

• Right action is based on the happiness and value of the particular action

• Pleasure is an intrinsic good in itself• hedonism


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Kantian Ethics (Immanuel Kant)

• Ethics does not rest on the actual consequences arising from the intended action or the summation of pleasure and pain based on empiricism, senses and inclinations


Kantian Ethics (Immanuel Kant): deontological (moral duties)

• PURE REASON – reason a priori not empirical or sensory

• Good Will – the end in itself• Each person possesses autonomy and

freedom to act• A rational person possesses understanding

and seeks to exercise his will based on reason, free from impulse, inclinations and senses



• one must act from moral duty instead of acting based on his inclinations or interests

• Acting from a moral duty vs acting in conformity with a moral duty

The shopkeeper



The shopkeeper does not overcharge an inexperienced customer but instead fixes a general price for every customer. Although the shopkeeper acts in conformity with duty (i.e. in accordance with the principle of honesty), Kant suggests that if the shopkeeper is motivated by personal advantages or self-interest, then he is not acting from duty. Thus, the action would be unethical from the Kantian perspective.


Kantian Ethics (Immanuel Kant): 2 Categorical Imperatives

Principle of Universality• Act only according to the

maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.

Principle of Humanity• Act so that you treat

humanity, whether in your own person or in that another, always as an end and never as a means only.


“Act in a way that is consistent with what you would want as a universal law, and at the same time, treat people as ends, and a means only.”


• The Principle of Universality essentially reminds us that there should not be double standards in the determination of ethical conduct. That is, the ethical maxim which one adopts for himself should similarly be applied to others.



The principle of universality

• A Chinese employer hires new staff. He desires to hire only employees who belong to his ethnic group, notwithstanding the company’s location in a multiethnic community and the eligible candidates from various ethnic groups.

Favouritism vs meritocracy



• The Principle of Humanity based on human dignity. Humans as rational beings are persons who exist as ends in themselves. This is contrasted with physical objects such as tools which are used merely as a means to achieve certain ends or purpose.



The principle of humanity

Downsizing: • How does one reconcile the decision to make

an employee redundant with the Principle of Humanity?

• Is it possible to argue that the provision of a sufficiently long period of notice and a reasonable severance package demonstrate respect for the employee?


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Kantian Ethics

• Lying (cheating): is wrong without admitting any exceptions at all


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QUESTION

1. Recall Mill’s position on lying. What is the difference between the Millian and Kantian approaches? Provide a very specific scenario that happens in workplaces.

2. Is Kant’s universal law based on ethnic discrimination self-defeating or contrary to reason? Why so?


THEORIES OF JUTICE


Three theories of justice• The Aristotelean conception of justice• John Rawls’ justice as fairness• Robert Nozick and the entitlement theory


Three theories of justice

• The Aristotelean conception of justice

• John Rawls’ justice as fairness

• Robert Nozick and the entitlement theory


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Aristotelean conception of justice

• “Just” means lawful and fair• Jusice is complete virtue and that which leads

to someone else’s good, not merely oneself.



Three forms of justice1.Distributive justice – the benefits and

advantages accruing to one person as compared to another within the society.

“justice is regarded as a means and is based on the proportional ratios of values. This involves distribution of goods in accordance with the right proportions.”



1. Distributive justicee.g. assume


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Theories of Ethics and Social Responsibility